Komaza

Komaza’s mission is to get dryland families, the poorest people on Earth, out of extreme poverty by building a world class forestry company. How can they help achieve this? By helping families plant trees for a dollar, which later can be sold for up to $30. To date, with $2 million dollars of donor funding, they have planted tree farms with over 5,000 farmers totaling over 1.3 million trees with a net present value of over $26 million USD.

This is important because Africa, particularly East Africa has a multi-billion dollar wood crisis. Deforestation in the ever-present search for wood to use for cooking, construction and more combined with the population growth has stripped the country of trees. Deforestation perpetuates a cycle of poverty as the environment continues to degrade. Today, 93.5% of Africa’s wood is harvested from the Congo, far from the urban areas and at a rate of one California’s worth of trees disappearing every eight years.

Komaza’s supporters exemplify the concept of “patient capital,” investing in a concept that will only prove its viability six plus years after the first tree farm was planted.